Looking to purchase an electric smoker. A friend of mine has this. http://www.amazon.com/Masterbuilt-20070 ... ilt+smoker He said he loves it. I already have a char-griller I use alot, but when its colder out (I live in NE PA) it gets harder to use. Just looking for some advice.

I don't want to spend a ton of money. But willing to pay for a better product.

I have a MasterBuilt that I have purely for making jerky and smoking fish. I usually run it at 180 degrees. It's a pretty good, well insulated, digital smoker. One problem I have, and from reading about them it's fairly common, my first pan of chips smolders good but when I reload, it's hard to get the chips to smolder. I'll take one or two small pieces of charcoal that's leftover in one of my Webers and ignite them, let my 2nd or sometimes even 3rd load of chips start to smolder from the charcoal before I dump the pan into the smoke chamber. My MasterBuilt is 5 or 6 years old. Maybe they've solved this problem by now.Best electric smokers (and inexpensive) were the Luhr-Jensenn Big Chief's. I had two of them that each lasted about 12 - 15 years before the heating element burned out. You can now get an insulating blanket from Luhr-Jensenn for colder weather smokes. Pnly downside is they are nor digital and no way to regulate the temperature. Think the book or Luhr-Jensenn web site says that they are optimized at about 165 or 170 degreesCabela's also carry the smaller CookShack but they're a little more expensive than the MasterBuilt but are better quality.

I've got a number of friends and neighbors who own MasterBuilt smokers and I've heard a lot of positive feedback on them. In fact, I heard so many good reviews that I've tried them out a few times and had no issues whatsoever. The price is right too, so you might want to get one.

Unlike propane, you'll never wake up scorched and naked in another county because you mishandled a bag of briquettes.

Guessing, don't know for sure, that Master Chef is made by MasterBuilt. Mine is a MaterBuilt. I did some web searching when I first got mine and found it to be a common problem for the chips not to smolder. Problem is that there is no bottom venting and chips start to smolder then die out. I use mine to cold smoke - usually about 180 degrees - and make jerky and smoke fish. I've solved my problem by igniting a small piece of leftover charcoal from one of my grills to smolder chips and not closing the chip holder all of the way to let some air circulate. After I "dump" the chips, I will pull out the dumper to let some air into the bottom of the smoker that way.I did three wild caught steelhead fillets yesterday that turned out great.